Legal 500 describe 39 Essex Chambers as a set that “contains highly respected silks, and ‘an unlimited supply of extremely bright junior barristers’, who are ‘commercial and responsive’.

Chambers has offices in Singapore and Kuala Lumpur as well as two practice managers situated in Asia. Ben Olbourne and David Bateson recently joined the set and are based in the region, as is Rashda Rana SC.

Chief Executive and Director of Clerking David Barnes is ‘very strong at building and maintaining relationships with instructing solicitors in the region’; he has ‘the inherent ability to recommend a good barrister for a particular set of issues’. Senior practice manager Owen Lawrence is also ‘well known with a great network of contacts in Singapore’”.